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This property in southwest Michigan is home to the world’s largest manufacturing site for drug giant Pfizer Inc. Monday, Pfizer [NYSE: PFE] and its partner, the German company BioNTech [Nasdaq: BNTX], announced that their coronavirus vaccine appears to be 90 percent effective and should be ready for production – at this Michigan site – by the end of November.
If all goes according to plan and companies are able to obtain emergency use authorization from the Federal Food and Drug Administration, deployment of a vaccine to fight the global pandemic could begin this year. The two injections that appear to offer protection against the virus will be free for Americans. So far, it’s unclear how this will play out and on what schedule.
“Based on current projections, we expect to produce up to 50 million doses of vaccine globally in 2020 and up to 1.3 billion doses in 2021,” Pfizer said in a statement Monday.
The impact “is obviously huge from a public health point of view,” said Stephen Rapundalo, president and CEO of MichBio, a Michigan $ 28 billion life sciences industry advocacy organization.
It also resonates with Portage, home to approximately 53,000 people and one of the state’s busiest life science corridors, where approximately 2,200 Pfizer employees work and where companies like Stryker and Zoetis continue to grow. .
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“The virus has changed people’s lives,” said Joseph La Margo, director of the city of Portage. “We hear about new cases and how hospitals are overwhelmed again. It’s scary. But then … there is that ray of hope.
Vaccine newsAdvances in stocks sent stocks skyrocketing, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 834.57 points, or 2.95%. It closed at 29,157.97, its biggest one-day gain since June 5, according to CNBC reports.
Pfizer climbed 7.69%, closing at $ 39.20 per share, while BioNTech gained 13.91%, closing at $ 104.80.
The stock market surge may show economic optimism after industries like restaurants and airlines have suffered since March as fear of the infection spreading has shut down businesses, forcing others to adapt to strict safety protocols and raising concerns among consumers. Unemployment from the pandemic has hit millions of Americans this year, with the most recent data showing that between March 15 and October 31, 2.92 million Michigan residents filed for unemployment, receiving $ 25.58 billion in benefits.
The vaccine moving closer to approval also comes as coronavirus cases continue to rise in most parts of the country, where at least 10 million people have tested positive for the virus. In Michigan, the most recent case count averaged 4,505 positive cases each day for Sunday and Monday, a 34% increase from the previous week. The rate of positive tests reached 11.5%, down from less than 3% earlier this fall, according to state data.
Pfizer and BioNTech signed an agreement in July with the federal government to receive a payment of $ 1.95 billion upon receipt of the first 100 million doses, after clearance or approval from the FDA. According to the agreement, the United States may receive up to 500 million additional doses. The companies have reached a deal with the UK for 30 million doses and are in negotiations with other entities, including a possible 200 million doses for the European Union.
Vaccine production will reach Pfizer’s facility in Portage after starting at two other company factories. It will start with the production of raw materials in Saint-Louis. The drug substance will then be purified in Andover, Maryland, before being shipped to Portage.
In Portage, the drug is combined with other raw materials. The bulk vaccine will then be transferred to an aseptic filling line where it will be filled into a sterilized and capped vial. It will then be subjected to a 100% inspection before being transferred to the packaging lines, ”the statement said.
“We hear about new cases and how hospitals are overwhelmed again. It’s scary. But then … there is that ray of hope. – Joseph La Margo, director of the city of Portage
The packaged containers will go into deep freezers, the company said, because they are to be stored at -109.3 degrees F. They will then be stored in storage freezers “pending final packaging in ice shipping containers. dried.
Michigan can celebrate its role in the vaccine, state officials said. Pfizer is based in New York, but has a long presence in Michigan, where its Upjohn division was founded. Although she closed R&D operations at Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor in 2007, her fair job at Portage was 2,200 before announcing an expansion planned for 2018.
“This is great news for our families, our frontline workers and our small business owners,” Governor Gretchen Whitmer said. “Michigan has always been at the forefront of innovation and I’m proud to see Pfizer, a Michigan company and one of the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in the world, to produce the vaccine in our great state. “
The Portage expansion is valued at $ 465 million, including $ 148 million in a 400,000 square foot processing facility to add a sterile injection production line to its campus. It hasn’t started, La Margo told Bridge Michigan on Monday.
The move will create about 450 new jobs in Kalamazoo County, said Jill Bland, managing partner of Southwest Michigan First, a Kalamazoo-based economic development group. Pfizer at the time was forecasting a total investment of $ 1.1 billion through 2024.
“In many ways, Pfizer planned to be able to produce vaccines and be at the cutting edge of technology in that area,” Bland said.
The Portage plant also manufactures active pharmaceutical ingredients and medical devices, shipping at least 140 million units of injections and drugs. The company says its products are shipped to 113 countries.
Rapundalo, of MichBio, said he hopes the attention of the coronavirus injection will help Michigan’s life science industry grow.
“We have the capacity, we have the talent, we have the legacy in this space,” said Rapundalo. “These are high paying jobs. Skilled, knowledge-based jobs that we really want to be able to have here. Especially since we are one of the largest producers of scientists and engineers in the country. “
The news also resonates in the historically heavy manufacturing state of Michigan, where the pandemic and supply shortages for personal protective equipment (PPE) have reignited calls to “redistribute” more production to the United States, added. Rapundalo.
“I would challenge our state officials to focus on this and talk about the kind of policies that would benefit from it,” he said. At the top of its list: the restoration of the state research and development tax credit.
“Michigan is one of four states that doesn’t have one,” Rapundalo said. “We desperately need it, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.”
Bland, of Southwestern Michigan First, agreed that the R&D tax credit could make a difference in recruiting even more life science companies to the state, home to 1,300 d ‘between them and 130,000 life science workers. Bland said the renewal of the Good Jobs for Michigan tax credit could also make a difference. This The program ended in December 2019 after granting tax breaks worth $ 57.4 million to three companies, including Pfizer, which together pledge to create 1,354 jobs within five years. Critics said the jobs cost the state more than $ 40,000 for every job created.
Meanwhile, vaccine development is just one of several underway among global pharmaceutical companies. That one of them appears to be weeks away from production is “phenomenal,” Rapundalo said.
“Normally this process would have taken years,” he said.
However, he warned, “there is still some way to go.” The dose volume presents logistical challenges and the company tries to keep track of it in real time. The scale of distribution, he said, has never been seen before.
“It almost reminds me of a D-Day effort,” Rapundalo said. “Technology alone, coupled with integration across a vast geography… stuns the mind.”
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